Interest mounts in Arab culture say Arabfest organisers

The annual festival of Arab culture, or Arabfest, got underway this week in
the west Bohemian city of Pilsen. Now in its seventh year, the event offers
a number of lectures by Czech and foreign experts, exhibitions, workshops,
film screenings and more. The title of this year’s Arabfest is Together,
and it focuses mainly on the topics of migration and refugees.

“The festival of Arab culture was established in 2010 by the students of
the University of West Bohemia, specifically of the Department of Middle
Eastern Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Art. But it wouldn't
be possible without the help of the professors from the department of
Middle Eastern Studies.

Who is supporting you financially?

“The festival is supported financially mainly by the university, that
amounts to around 80 percent of the whole budget, and then we have also
small sponsors and donors from different organisations and NGOs. We are
also supported by the owners of the festival venues, who help us with
production and provide space for free, which is really helpful.”

What is the main focus of this years’ seventh edition of the event?

“This year's topic is called together. In the previous years the
festival was connected with music, architecture or travelling, but this
year we felt that we had to react on the current situation. That is why the
topic reflects the current migration issues as well as the refugee crisis.
We also wanted to focus on the personal experiences and the necessity of
sharing this experience.”

Will you also be reflecting the current migrant crisis?

“The migrant crisis will be reflected in several lectures and debates.
One of those debates will be hosted by political scientist Přemysl
Rosůlek and his guests will include sociologist Jan Daniel and Zdeněk
Ralík from the organisation People in Need, who is helping with volunteers
on borders.

“The migration crisis will also be reflected in a debate within the
so-called Grand Saturday. There will be a panel discussion called I am
Czech Iraqi with the members of the second generation of Iraqis living in
the Czech Republic and the debate will be moderated by Egyptian journalist
Yaser Reizk.”

What are the highlights of this year’s programme that you would
recommend?

Refugee Safari, photo: archive of Arabfest
“I would definitely recommend the musical performance Refugee Safari, a
progressive house musical. It will be a European premier and it will take
place in Moving Station, our main festival spot in the city of Plzeň. It
is a great performance dealing with the topics of weapons, war refugees,
borders, as well as culture integration.

“I would also like to invite our visitors to the Grand Saturday
Programme, which is taking place on seven scenes at the same time. There
will be oriental market, various workshop such as Arabic calligraphy and
language, debates, poetry readings, food tasting. So it will be really rich
indeed.

The festival traditionally involves Arabs living in the Czech Republic.
This year there will be a debate with thee second generation of Iraqis
living in the Czech Republic. Do they welcome events such as this one?

“I would say that they are really happy and really glad that we as
students of Middle Eastern Studies do take an effort and organise such a
festival. And they are not only glad but they are really supportive and
they want to take part themselves.

“There are a lot of guests who have contacted us and told us that they
wanted to be part of the programme.”

This year you are expecting a record number of guests, around 80. Can you
mention at least some of them?

Arabfest 2014, photo: archive of Arabfest
“Yes, there should be around 80 festival guests coming this year. Among
them will be Husam Abed from Palestine, a puppeteer who grew up in a
refugee camp in Jordan, Charif Bahbou, writer and owner of a publishing
house, Rashid Rahma, artist and musician from Algeria, movie director Moris
Issa, who is very well known in the Czech Republic, Algerian director Baz
Shamoun, who will present his movie ‘Where is Iraq’ and show extracts
from his upcoming film and many others.”

Would you say people have shown increased interest in the festival over
the years? How many visitors do you expect to turn up this year?

“According to the reactions on the social network, for instance on
Facebook and Twitter, there are really more and more people interested in
the festival. Somehow we managed to reach the wider public who wouldn’t
otherwise know about the festival.
In the previous years, there were around 2500 visitors during the whole
festival week, so I hope the number of visitors will be at least the
same.”

After the festival comes to end in Pilsen it will also move to Prague.

“Yes, the Arabfest in Prague gets underway on April 15, it will last for
three days but the programme will be really rich, including for instance a
discussion at the Václav Havel library. There will also be a Saturday
programme for wider public, with oriental market and discussions, so all
the visitors are welcome to take part.”

There will also be a rich accompanying programme. What are you
particularly looking forward to?

Arabfest 2014, photo: archive of Arabfest
“I am looking forward to an exhibition which was launched in Pilsen on
March 29. It is called Together in Cairo and it features beautiful black
and white photos taken by a student of the Prague Faculty of Arts, Zuzana
Kováčiková. She spent several months in Cairo last year and managed to
capture various communities living in Cairo as well as in the rural areas.
So you can see the everyday life and activities of people living there.

“And then there is a very special offer for our visitors, organised
together with the Moving Café in Pilsen. They can order coffee or tea and
if they say a magic password ‘spolu’ or ‘together’, they will also
receive some delicious sweets.”